


A Rhapsody in Binary

by MonkeyVenom, SilasCaptor



Series: Humanstuck [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Court Cases, Cybernetics, Human Experimentation, Other, crockercorp, psii and signless are brothers, trippy brain experiments, unethical lab procedures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1000045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonkeyVenom/pseuds/MonkeyVenom, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilasCaptor/pseuds/SilasCaptor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A humanstuck adaption of the story of the ancestors, specifically focusing on the Psiioniic, Silas Captor, the Disciple, Catherine Lejion, the Signless, Sebastian Vantas, and the Dolorosa, 'Mama' Rosa Vantas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Silas leaned up against the bus stop, the brisk fall air ruffling his sandy fringe. He folded his arms across his thin body, trying to shelter himself from the cold. Boston started to get cold in early September and continued painfully dreary until late spring- and it was only mid-September now. He was jolted out of worried contemplation when he recognized the frazzled redheaded college student floundering under a stack of books. "Oh- Hey, miss Lejion!"

 

She glanced up at him in surprise, and he saw the look of recognition dawn on her face just before she flashed him a cheery grin. "Si! God, it's been ages. How've you been?" A slim book slid off the top of the stack as she went to give him a one-armed hug, and he dove to pick it up for her, balancing it back on the stack.

 

"I've been better, you know. Overall I can't really complain." It was a lie, and he knew it. "How are your classes?"

 

"Oh, you know- overwhelming. I'm not failing any though." She gave him another grin. It was like being photo-flashed by a thousand lumens.

 

He returned the smile, painfully aware of his crooked teeth poking out like fangs between his lips. "Always good to hear." Those books looked terribly heavy, actually. And the slim one he'd just picked up was threatening another daring stunt. "Do you need any help with those?"

 

"Oh, no, no, I’m fine, I-" And there it went. He dove to catch it, slightly surprised and pleased with himself when he snatched it out of midair for her. Balancing it back on the stack, he helped her arrange them a little better in her arms.

 

“What class are you headed off to?”

 

“Sorry, Si,” She paused for a moment, and he could see her mind, tired from classes, grasping at straws to find the actual title of the class. “I’m a little swamped, it’s the one with the… ah… with the stats! I’ve got stats next, that’s what it was. It’s the only thing I’m actually ahead on, though, so if you wanted to catch lunch, we probably could.”

 

He chuckled, a characteristic nasal giggle. “I think there’s a fast food place about a block from your school, either Wendy’s or Burger King, right?”

 

She nodded, red curls bouncing against her forest-green jumper. “Mind if we stop by my dorm, first? I want to drop these ridiculous tomes.”

 

Tomes. Only Catherine would have used that word casually in a sentence. “Not a bit. You shouldn’t carry all those at once on your own anyhow. I can help, if you like.” Without waiting for her to respond, he slid about half of the books off the top of the stack.

 

“I’m tougher than I look, you know.” She gave Silas a disapproving glance that wasn’t lost on him at all. He gave her another cheery grin in response.

 

“Oh, I don’t doubt it, Honey.”

 

“Honey, really?” She turned and led them towards the dorm. “You can do much better than that, Kitten.”

 

He raised an eyebrow, mouth twisting into a smile he tried desperately to suppress. “I’m not sure ‘kitten’ is the best way to start a long and glorious rivalry of animal puns.”

 

“Everything has to start somewhere- There are worse beginnings, I’m sure.” She ‘blipped’ the door to the dormitory open, elbowing the handle and pushing her way in with the books. “I’m on the second floor. You’re not too old to handle stairs, are you?” Catherine grinned, her freckled nose wrinkling with glee.

 

“I’m not that ol- Hey!” Silas was left watching her retreating backside as she sprinted up the stairs. He jogged after her, taking the stairs two at a time with his long legs, panting heavily. When he reached the top, he had to lean against the door and catch his breath. “I’m a programmer, not an athlete, goddammit.” He straightened his jacket, setting the books down for a moment.

 

“Hehe, no kidding.” She swiped the keycard with her teeth (an impressive feat) and elbowed her own door open, and Silas watched from the stairwell as she peeked inside. “Good, roommate’s out. You need a glass of water, old man?”

 

Silas huffed, ruffling his own sandy bangs with his breath. “I’m fine. Where should I-” He saw where she’d set her stack, on a small wooden desk to the left of perfectly-organized Hello Kitty stationery.

 

“Whatever you say,” Catherine didn’t look at him, busy washing her hands. “Wouldn’t want you to have a heart attack or anything. Thanks, by the way.”

 

He turned back to her, mildly indignant, but in good humor. “You’re welcome, and stop calling me ‘old man’. I’m only thirty-two.”

 

“And I’m twenty-three. You’re an old man, old man.” Her tongue made a cheeky appearance. “So no work today, Silas?”

 

“Oh, you caught me doing deliveries. I’ve been working from home since the lawsuit started. I don’t suppose you heard about that, it’s quite a mess.” His heart dropped into his stomach at the sudden look of concern she gave him.

 

“Lawsuit? Against you, Si? What the hell happened?”  
“Well, seeing as how I’m the only surviving member of my department, it would be a tad unusual for Crockercorp to file a lawsuit against me.” He rubbed his neck, an old nervous habit, wincing slightly when his fingers agitated the scars that traced from the base of his skull to his shoulder. “No, it’ my lawsuit against the company, me and the families of my co-workers.”

 

Her face was still a picture of shock. “Only surviving- Silas, what the hell happened? Do you want to talk about it? Or, I don’t know, a hug?”

 

“It’s a bit of a story,” He dodged. He would have to tell her now, but he could put if off for a moment, at least. “How about over lunch then?”

 

She stuttered for a moment, still staring at him. “Right, yeah, lunch, let’s do that.”

 

“I’ll follow you.”

 

Catherine bustled about for another minute and a half, just long enough to drag her unruly curls into a gross approximation of a ponytail, pulling on a heavier coat. Silas flinched under her stare when she realized that the thin grey hoodie was all he had to keep warm. She herded him out the door, taking him by the arm and pulling him back to the stairwell. “I thought you were just in some obscure branch of R&D.”

 

“Neurocomputing. It’s a smaller department, so we did most of our research using each other as test subjects.”

 

“I’m guessing from the name it’s something brain-related.” She’s still giving him that worried stare, and he’s beginning to regret this, but at the same time, he knows he needs help.

 

“Yeah, the original project wasn’t a bad idea, either. Implant a network of electrodes and monitor brain activity to get a better idea of how a normal human brain functions. Tracking how it processes information would give us important data we could use to improve computers, and possibly even fight brain disease.” Even with everything that had happened, he couldn’t help but get a little animated talking about the project. He leaned down so she’d be able to see, brushing the back of his hair upwards with a hand, showing her the tiny metal plug implanted on the back of his neck. She gave a little gasp, and her finger touched the cold metal on the back of his neck.

 

“Is that? Oh, Si.”

 

“It’s fine” He shifted his backpack uncomfortably to the other shoulder. He hoped burger king was close. “Like I said, the original project wasn’t a bad idea. Unfortunately Corckercorp was never one to follow standard health and safety protocols in its research.”

 

“How many of you were there?” He watched her whack the button for the street crossing. It looked like she’d taken out some of her panic on the button.  
“Eighteen.”

 

“Eighteen?” Catherine’s green eyes were as wide as saucers. “Holy shit.”

 

“We had only been going a few months when we started getting all these memos, mandating less-than-ethical experiments. I was the only survivor.” He rubbed his neck. The metal was so cold in this wind.

 

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry.” She almost missed the crossing, staring at him, and of course he hadn’t been paying attention, and he was jarred out of his embarrassment when she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him across the street at a jog. “How long ago was this? Why haven’t you gone to like, the press with all of this?”

 

He grimaced, following her into the burger king. “We tried. Crockercorp owns everything. It’s actually a pretty impressive coverup.”

 

“Oh hell. This is awful.” She stared at the counter for a minute, and the woman behind it looked impatiently at her. It was lunch hour, after all. They were holding up the line. They both ordered something, and she pulled him into a booth by the window.

 

“I’m trying to help the families press charges. The ones who aren’t suing me, anyhow. But between all of us we’re having trouble affording legal fees. Crockercorp has the best lawyers.”

 

“And that’s how they get away with it, I guess.” She got up to get their food, muttering. “Seventeen people. God. This is bullshit.”

 

Silas waited until she sat down and had stopped muttering. “It’s pretty bad, it really is. It’s worse because I’m the only survivor and it was my invention. We were so fired up about it, back when we thought it was safe.”

 

“I can hardly blame you, it’s an exciting thought, unraveling the mysteries of the brain, but surely you must have seen how it could go wrong.” That one stung. He’d been so naive.

 

“The device was never meant to be used that way, I swear.” He stopped himself from getting too defensive. “It’s designed to pick up signals, not send them.”

 

“And it never occurred to you Crockercorp might try to weaponize it?” Catherine took a bite of her lunch, still watching him.

 

“Well none of us ever really expected anything to come of it.” He stuffed a few fries in his own mouth. “We were a tiny department with not enough funding for our research. We figured we’d get a handful of scans and get shunted back into the main programing department.”

 

“Guess it didn’t go as expected, then.”

 

“Nope.”

 

“So… sending signals. Like, being able to control people’s bodies or rewrite their memories? That’s… kind of terrifying.”

 

“It’s not supposed to do that! That’s why it was so dangerous.” He groaned, putting his hands on his head.

 

“Do you have to have the infrastructure to begin with, or will it just work on anyone?”

 

“Do you think I’d have let Crockercorp operate on my brain if I didn’t? The fibers are placed very carefully in specific areas of the brain. You can’t just approximate it, it’s a very delicate operation.”

 

“That’s a relief, I guess. But not for you, I take it.” She took a sip of her soda.

 

“Crockercorp abused the mechanism.” He shut his eyes, screams still echoing in his head. “They had us plugged into all sorts of machines. And each other.”

 

The silence could have been cut with a knife. “Each other? Silas… how…”

 

“It was pretty simple, in the principle of it, a cord with a laptop in the middle to monitor brain activity. In practice, you got to see the terrified thoughts of the other person who was dying, screaming behind you.”

 

Catherine set the burger down, her lunch clearly forgotten. He wished she wouldn’t look at him like that. It made him feel like even more of a monster than he was already.

 

“I… Oh god. I’m so sorry.” She shook her head, and he looked up at her in surprise. Sympathy, he hadn’t expected. Anger, incredulity, blame, yes, but not sympathy. “How could you even… Jesus. Why? What possible purpose could that serve?”

 

He shrugged, pushing his half-eaten carton of fries back on the table. “I don’t know. Don’t ask me to fathom the manipulative mind of the batterwitch. Sorry about your appetite, though. The only way I can possibly think of winning this is to get access to Crockercorp medical records. There will be autopsy reports in there that will blow this wide open.”

 

“My- What? No, no, it’s fine. The least of my concerns.” She waved a hand dismissively in the direction of the half-eaten burger.

 

“How’s our favorite ethics professor these days?” He tried to change the topic, flinching inwardly at the spoon-branded truck that drove by the window.

 

“Professor Vantas? He’s doing well.” She gave him a half-smile, still looking rather put off, but he was glad he could interest her in her favorite professor, the dynamic young Doctor Sebastian Vantas. Silas wasn’t completely oblivious to her interest in his younger adoptive brother, either. If they’d been on speaking terms… but they weren’t, and therefore it was not really his place to involve himself.

 

“I was actually going to go ask Sebastian if he could do a consultation for me, on legal grounds. He’s got a law degree, after all. Maybe if I can get him to get his head out of his pompous ass he might be able to take a case for once.”

 

“I’m sure he would, he’s never one to pass up a noble cause.” He was remarkably unreassured by the reassuring smile she gave him. “Besides, you two used to be pretty close, right? I can help petition him, if you like.”

 

“I spent a lot of time over his house as a kid, we used to be practically brothers. His mother is a fantastic woman. But we haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye lately, so I’d appreciate your voice in this.” He glanced out the window again, startled when she took one of his hands in hers across the table. Green eyes met his, mismatched brown and blue.

 

“If there’s any way, any way at all I can help, just say the word, okay, Si?”

 

He put his free hand on top of hers and squeezed it gratefully. “Thanks. And I do appreciate it. I’m not fond of accepting charity. The only reason I’m going to Vantas is that if he doesn’t take the case, I don’t think we stand a chance. I sold my house to pay for lawyers. I’m running out of alternatives.”

 

Catherine’s lovely, freckled face was rosy with the chill and etched with worry. “We’re friends, it doesn’t even count as charity. Those are the rules, I’m sure of it.”

 

He nodded, sitting silent for a moment. He tried to change the topic again. “If you want, you can stop by my new apartment, I can show you what’s happening in the case so far. I’ve been taking a transcript, as often as I can. I’m already planning to invite Vantas.” He dropped the last line like a hook. “I’m sorry in advance about the mess, though.”

 

“Oh, hush.” She patted his hand. “You’ve got an excuse.”

 

“I’ve been running a home computer repair service to try to keep myself afloat through all this, and I’ve got bits of things everywhere. But as long as you can tell the difference between a capacitor and a fork, you should be alright.”

 

“I think I can tell the difference. But I’m sure you can pick me up on any silicone etiquette disasters.”

 

He brushed the fries back into the bag, tucking it in his knapsack, and she watched slightly open-mouthed, her brows furrowing. “You really are skint, aren’t you?”

 

“Nah. It’s not terrible. I’m just at the end of my cash for the week. When I finish my deliveries tonight I’ll be a bit better off.”

 

“I don’t want you spending money on dinner for a bunch of people you don’t need to feed. The least you can let me do is chip in.” She slid out of the booth, staring down at him with a hand extended to help him up.

 

“I can’t ask that of you.” Silas stayed stubbornly in the corner of the booth. “I’ll make a box of pasta. It won’t be terrible.”

 

She rolled her eyes, tugging him to his feet. After less than a moment’s deliberation, she threw her arms around his thin frame in a tight hug. He caught his breath, then chuckled faintly. “What’s this for?”

 

Catherine’s arms might have gotten a little tighter when she replied, muffled slightly by his shirt. “If you tell me you’re not accepting hugs, I’ll punch you in the gut.”

 

He was slightly taken aback, but he giggled. “Ehehe, no, no, that’s alright. Hugs are fine.”

 

“Because you’re my friend, and you’ve been having an unbelievably shit time, and I have no idea how to properly, tangibly help. So hugs it is.”

 

He wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her shoulders gently before letting go. But then he was taken off guard yet again, as she buried her face in his shoulder, making the sort of noise he knew meant she was trying not to cry. He rubbed her back gently. “Hey, it’s okay-”

 

“Augh, sorry, right in the middle of the restaurant, too.” She looked up at Silas, and his stomach did a flip when he saw that her eyes were already red-rimmed. “And I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be the one comforting me.” She gave a pointed sniff.

 

“Don’t be upset, oh god, you’re gonna get me going again,” He gave a shuddery laugh, his eyes already watering.

 

“Sorry! I’m sorry…” She pulled back; looking rather mortified, rubbing at her eyes. She grabbed a handful of the thin fast food napkins and shoved them at her face.

 

“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to be embarrassed, I know I did my fair share of crying when I woke up in the hospital and they told me I was the only one left.” She clung to his jacket, and he hovered with his hands over her shuddering back.

 

“Si, god, I can’t even imagine how you’re even remotely calm right now.” She balled her fists in the material of his hoodie. “I swear, anything I can do to make sure those Crockercorp beasts get what they deserve, I will do it.”

 

He shook his head, but he was smiling. He appreciated the sentiment. “Shh, it’s alright. And there are plenty of good people at Crockercorp, don’t forget. We’re doing everything we can right now. And you’d be surprised how much doing everything you can puts your mind at ease in a situation like this.” He cupped her face in his hand, pulling her up to look at him. She shook it out of his grasp with a choked sob.

 

“Fine, not those Crockercorp beasts. That one witch of a woman.” She spat out the word as though it was a curse, and it might as well have been. “I’m not a violent person, I’m sure you know that, but I make no guarantee that if I saw her in the street I wouldn’t beat her into a bloody pulp. If I even knew what she looked like.”

 

Silas nodded. The identity of his former employer was as mysterious to him as it was to anyone else. She never left the company, not for anything. “You’re not the only one. She hasn’t even given our case the decency of showing up in person.”

 

The look she gave him could have frozen molten rock. “Can I revise my descriptor? From witch to bitch?”

 

“I believe you may.”

 

“Good, because I’m absolutely doing that. Right now. Consider it revised.” She gave him a grim smile, which he returned.

 

“You’d better get going, you’ll be late for class.” He glanced at the cheap watch strapped to his wrist. “And I’ve got deliveries to do.”

 

“Right, yeah.” Out came her cell phone. Silas couldn’t help an inward sigh of amusement at the irony. “Text me the address?”

 

“I don’t have a phone,” He explained. “I’ll write it down for you.” A quick scribble on a fast food napkin and he handed it to her, with the time, 6:30 pm.

 

She ran a hand through her hair, already falling out of the ponytail, red curls hanging loosely across her face. “I’ll let Doc Vantas know, I’ve got his class last.”

 

“That sounds great, you’ll save me a bus ride back up here.”

 

She pecked him on the cheek, to his great astonishment, and he followed her out, each of them going their separate ways.


	2. Chapter 2

Sebastian Vantas waved politely as Catherine exited his office door, closing it with a quiet click. Her footsteps echoed down the hallway until no longer audible, and he couldn’t help but groan slightly into his hand. 

Silas wanted him over? For dinner? There had to be some misunderstanding, the two men hadn’t truly talked in...well, it had certainly been a while, at any rate. Letting his hand drop back to his lap, he surveyed a few papers strewn across his desk, straightening out a few as he saw fit. 

She had mentioned something about his Crocker Corp. neurological ideas, and the professor had to roll his eyes at the thought. There was a fine line, after all, between dreaming and naivete, and Silas danced across that line quite a bit. Truthfully speaking, Sebastian wished he could have talked a bit more sense into the idiot back in college, but Silas was just so animated about it, the conversation had blown up into a full scale argument.

And then there was the subject of the actual dinner itself. Sebastian could remember the last time that Silas had attempted to cook something. It had been pasta, of all things, a staple in his mother’s home. So, when Silas had not only burned the noodles, but had completely decimated the sauce, it taught Sebastian a valuable lesson that day: no food cooked by the older man’s hands was to be trusted.

Mulling over his choices, he decided that he would grab something quick to eat at one of the local restaurants, then feign fullness from lunch. That should work, he figured, Silas was pretty gullible by nature. It would take that kind of mindset to work for the likes of Peixes, after all.

He gathered his more important papers carefully, tucking them into his side bag carefully, before leaving his office and making his way to his car. There were few things in life that Sebastian could honestly say he loved, and his car, his baby, was most certainly in the top rung of that list. She was red and polished, that the professor made sure of, and she ran like a dream. A simple constant that the Italian could rely on, and that brought a smile to his face as he sat down in the driver’s seat.

The engine roared to life, both car and driver zipping out of the parking lot and onto the road. Fifteen minutes and a bag of fast food later, he was on his way home. But, no matter how much food he ate, or how fast his car went, or how long he sat on his couch and stared bleakly at the wall, it just couldn’t settle the growing pit forming in his stomach. Tonight was sure to be grating, that he was sure of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really very excited that this is finally coming to fruition, it was quite the labor of love from early summer. I've always loved the Signless as a character, so having the opportunity to give him a "new life" in this story is pretty awesome, in my opinion.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading thus far, and we really hope you stick around to the end.

**Author's Note:**

> Allright, so this fic has been a long time in the process and a long time in the making. Special thanks to all the co-authors of the original parp log. The cast was as follows.
> 
> http://ablubluh.tumblr.com Disciple, Catherine Lejion  
> http://scyth3g1rl.tumblr.com Dolorosa, or Mama Rosa  
> http://opulentviolets.tumblr.com Neophyte Redglare, or Regina Pyrope
> 
>  
> 
> My wonderful co-writer is MonkeyVenom, or she-lives-in-your-closet on tumblr.com, and she plays the Signless, Sebastian Vantas. The next chapter will be from his point of view, as we'll be switching off throughout the fic. 
> 
> And yours truly, megandrawsstuff, as Silas Captor, the Psiioniic
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's read the original log, and encouraged us to do this. We're finally makin' it happen.


End file.
